Grilled Vegetables and Israeli Couscous Salad

Well, it felt like the heat would never relent, but finally, the seasons are starting to change here in Durham. It's not quite feeling like fall yet though, but more how a pleasant summer should be—warm and comfortable, just generally good times to be outside. So I have not yet transitioned into my orange veggie, fall extravaganza mode, but instead am enjoying the last hurrays of the summer season, and this grilled vegetable and Israeli couscous salad is good note to go out on.

The Meat-Atlantic

I seriously think this Meatwave season has been cursed. In no other year have I had to cancel or postpone more Meatwaves, and when we did host cookouts, we often faced adverse weather conditions. This particular event, comprised of Mid-Atlnatic specialities, was supposed to happen back in March, but a continuing cold snap forced its delay. Then it was supposed to happen in September, but again we were foiled, this time by Hurricane Florence, so we pushed it to October. When it came to Meatwave week this time, we faced yet another hurricane, but luckily this one passed through quickly and we were looking at sunny and pleasant weather on a Sunday for once. Then that morning came, and what had been a favorable forecast turned into a cold and rainy morning, but luckily the rain stopped right in time for the meat to start flowing, and while the sun never did come out, we were finally able to put this long-awaited Meat-Atlantic in the books.

Korean Spicy Tofu Bulgogi

As of late, one deciding go or no go factor for my recipes has been based on their ability to be translated into vegetarian versions with a high degree of quality. Don't fret, the Meatwave isn't going vegetarian, but I've been much more mindful of my guests who are not meat eaters, and while that attention is always appreciated, it seems to be the most successful when my guests are able to enjoy things very similar to what everyone else is eating. So while the original impetus for this Korean spicy bulgogi recipe was for use with thinly sliced pork shoulder, the immensely flavorful marinade seemed perfect for seasoning tofu, and at the end of the day, every eater at my cookout was able to enjoy this crazy delicious dish.

Chicago Char Dogs

This past Meatwave season has been a challenging one. It took a couple months longer than I was expecting to get it off the ground thanks to poor weather, then I had been traveling so much over the summer than I always felt like I was rushing to cram in a cookout with never enough time to prepare. In one of these instances, I only gave myself two days to get everything ready—usually shopping and prep spans twice as long—and decided that a purely hot dog affair would help ease the pressure of trying to do too much it too little time. I knew I really wanted to do Chicago Dogs, which is a favorite of mine, and these turned out being the most stress-free item on the menu because I literally just bought a kit off of the Vienna Beef website, which was the best way for me to procure all the hyper-regional ingredients, ensuring these would be as legit as possible coming off a grill in North Carolina.